Case study / VMware Skyline

Turning infrastructure issues into reports with clear recommendations.

VMware's Technical Account Managers check the health of their customers' infrastructure and recommend improvements. That work was manual, slow and inconsistent. I designed the experience in Skyline that turned it into a guided, largely automated report, from activating the service to sharing the final PDF.

Role: Product Designer: user journeys, wireframes and final UI
Team: 3 product designers, working with product, frontend and QA
Timeline: 5 months
Product: VMware Skyline Advisor and Skyline Viewer

To comply with my nondisclosure agreement, I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information. This case study is my own and doesn't necessarily reflect the views of VMware or Broadcom.

Context

What an IT infrastructure assessment covers.

Skyline gathers infrastructure findings that a Technical Account Manager (TAM) can use in a customer health check. Before this project, turning those findings into a report relied on manual work and several handoffs.

Users

Three people, one report.

Anita activates the service as an administrator. Anil, the TAM, prepares the health check. Paul in Professional Services can create a report when a customer requests one.

Customer

Anita, virtual infrastructure administrator

Manages her company's VMware environment. She activates the TAM service in Skyline Advisor and receives the reports. Access depends on the support plan her company has purchased.

VMware

Anil, Technical Account Manager

Delivers health checks to his customers at least once a year, and more often if needed during the engagement. Mostly works from automated findings, adding manual ones in special cases.

VMware

Paul, Professional Services

Delivers one time health checks that customers buy on demand, for a selected part of their inventory. Uses both automated and manual findings.

Journey

Mapping the handoffs first.

Activation starts in Skyline Advisor and finishes in Skyline Viewer. I mapped what each person could see and do before designing the screens.

A swimlane journey map showing how the VI admin requests activation in Skyline Advisor and the TAM completes it in Skyline Viewer. — The customer activates the service and shares the organisation ID. The Technical Account Manager completes setup in Skyline Viewer. Both need to see the setup status.

Design

From activation to a finished report.

01 / Activation

Two clear steps for the customer

The customer sees two steps and can copy the organisation ID for the TAM.

The TAM Reports activation page in Skyline Advisor, with two numbered steps and a copy button for the organisation ID.

02 / Report creation

Use existing findings, then let the TAM review.

Skyline already collected infrastructure findings. The report builder needed to turn those findings into a useful starting point for the Technical Account Manager.

The work we could reduce

Preparing a customer assessment involved manual work and handoffs. Reusing Skyline’s findings could reduce that work, while keeping the TAM responsible for the assessment.

How the report changed

Triggered findings are included by default. The TAM can review grades, exclude findings and add observations before previewing the report.

My role I designed the journeys, wireframes and interface, then worked with product, engineering and QA through handoff and user acceptance testing.

Skyline report builder showing triggered findings, grades, observations and affected objects. — The TAM reviews triggered findings, adjusts grades and adds observations before generating a report.

03 / The report

Readable by the customer, not just the expert

The report brings an executive summary, severity heatmap and detailed findings into one exportable view.

The vSphere health check report, with a cover page, methodology, executive summary charts and a findings heatmap.

04 / Report library

Every report in one place

The library keeps completed reports and data exports together for users whose roles allow access.

The TAM reports library, showing engagement details and a list of health check and data export reports.

Delivery

Seeing it through to release.

I worked with product, frontend and QA through handoff and user acceptance testing. We checked which setup steps, report actions and exports each of the three roles could access. Differences in permissions needed particular attention during testing.

Looking back

What this project taught me.

Before designing the report builder, I mapped how the administrator, Technical Account Manager and Professional Services user would share the work. That helped us test each role’s permissions and the steps between activation and report delivery.